Waterstons and ELHA partner to ‘futureproof’ IT systems

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East Lothian Housing Association (ELHA) has partnered with business and IT consultancy Waterstons to embark on a four-year programme that will ‘futureproof’ its IT systems, while providing resilient online services for its tenants.

Waterstons will work hand in hand with ELHA to refresh its ICT infrastructure and provide managed IT services over the coming years, as well as provide ongoing digital and business advice at a strategic level.

Waterstons will also design and implement a private cloud solution using a scalable Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model, providing ELHA with the flexibility to quickly scale their ICT infrastructure to meet short or long-term needs.

The cloud will be supplied by Waterstons’ strategic partner, Datavita, whose datacentre in Scotland is one of only three purpose built and Uptime Institute constructed Tier III certified datacentres in the UK, providing ELHA and its tenants with the highest level of data security.

Ricky Milliken, Regional Head Scotland, Waterstons, said: “Waterstons has a number of customers in the social housing sector within the UK, but ELHA is our first customer within Scotland.

“I am delighted such a progressive and ambitious housing association has chosen to partner with us, and I’m excited about the journey we will embark on together.

“With our broad offer of both consultancy and support services, added with the security and flexibility offered by Datavita, we offer a unique value proposition to social housing customers within this sector.”

Martin Pollhammer, CEO at ELHA, added: “Our sector-leading digital services are now used by many of our tenants, and as we develop these further, we need to ensure we have safe and secure systems that are flexible to our needs.

“Our maintenance company, R3, was born digital, but as R3 also continues to expand, and with customer numbers now measured in the thousands, data security at the very highest level is core to our business.

“This partnership with Waterstons and DataVita not only improves our position in the present, it opens up all sorts of opportunities for us in the future.”

Becoming a part of the project, Danny Quinn, Managing Director at DataVita, said: “We are delighted to be Waterstons’ strategic partner on this exciting transformation project.

“We look forward to working together over the next four years, and for ELHA to realise the benefits that the cloud will bring for tenants.”